The Right Stuff turns 50

John Glenn had already lived a great American life by the time he crawled into a tiny Mercury capsule and blasted off to become the first American to orbit Earth 50 years ago Monday. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

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NBC News
July 05, 2015

This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>all three big engines burning clean and hot.

>>50 years ago today, a brave man from ohio became an
american hero
while his wife and two teenaged children watched on television back home.
john glenn
became the first american to orbit the earth, the first among us to experience three sunsets, three nighttimes in the
space
of one day, flying around and around our planet before returning to a hero's welcome. it was all in a day's work for this modest, unflappable patriot who seemed to emerge from
nasa
's version of
central casting
.

>> reporter: he had already lived a great
american life
by the time he crawled into that insanely small capsule 50 years ago today during an era when the newspapers said the
united states
was second best in
space
.

>>mercury atlas is ready.

>> reporter: john glenn
had flown in
world war ii
and korea. he was awarded the
distinguished flying cross
five times. when you look at him here and when you realize he was just 41 at the time of the interview with nbc news, it's a reminder that back then men like
john glenn
grew up and grew old in a hurry and the u.s. again turned to
john glenn
because we were in a big hurry to orbit the earth.

>>you look to the early
space
flights as almost being like you're going on a
combat mission
. you're representing your country in something that's important.

>> reporter: russia scared us into action five years earlier by launching what was basically a
silver basketball
with a flashing light on it called sputnik. they were the first to orbit. the only rocket we had was a converted ballistic
nuclear missile
, so
glenn
sat on top of that in a capsule so primitive by today's standards there is more technology in the average ford f-150 than there was aboard "friendship 7."

>>three, two, one, zero.

>> reporter: the montage in "the right stuff" is all real. the u.s. failed at a number of launch attempts and there was no guarantee
glenn
would survive this one. off he went accompanied by the famous blessing.

>>god bleed,
john glenn
.

>> reporter: the nation stopped 50 years ago today. he was only up there for five hours, three orbits yet there was so much we didn't know.
nasa
scientists feared his eyes wouldn't work in
zero g
weightlessness. that wasn't the case.

>>zero g
, i feel fine.

>> reporter: he reported seeing brilliant flying sparkles.

>>i'm in a mass of some very small particles that are brilliantly lit up. i never saw anything like it.

>> reporter: some at
nasa
thought they might be living things,
space
bugs. but it was just frost off the capsule.

>>there's a fireball outside.

>> reporter: when a malfunction threatened to burn him up,
glenn
got through it by humming the
battle hymn of the republic
while hurtling back to earth at 17,000 miles an hour. always with the great under statement of a fighter pilot. he could have coined the phrase, never let them see you sweat.

>>my condition is good. it's a little hot in here.

>> reporter: when he got out of the capsule he asked for a glass of
iced tea
.

>>many have been here three and a half or four hours.

>> reporter: when he got home there was a
ticker tape parade
in new york. he addressed a
joint session of congress
with no way of knowing he'd some day serve in the
u.s. senate
and no way of knowing on this
50th anniversary
of his flight only he and
scott carpenter
would survive from the original group of seven astronauts.

>>those five are missed.
scott carpenter
and i are still around. when you've had five of your colleagues like that pass on it's sort of, i guess comes home to you that your own mortality is around here some place.

>> reporter: john glenn
has never been accused of lack of dedication. in april
glenn
and his wife annie will celebrate their 69th
wedding anniversary
. for decades he was told he could never return to
space
because he was a
national treasure
. he finally wore them down and at 77 he went back up in the
space
shutting for good measure.

>>it's been a fine mission so far.

>>the ultimate irony may be it irks senator
glenn
that the manned
space program
is now idle. the
shuttle program
is over and the only ride available into
space
for american astronauts is the russians, the former enemy that john